Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-15

/ both freight and passenger traffic, Will be
! greatly reduced, If not entirely removed.
While the act prohibits pooling, it thus
serves itself one of the main purposes OF
pool"
6. The business of express and for
Warding companies will be greatly and
rapidly reduced.
s. The manufacturer or producer whose
market is near at hand, while he may not
experience any positive reduction OF his
! freight rates, will. be benefited by the
added burden placed on his remote COM
petitors.
AS a consequence Of these immediate
! effects, the following more remote or
rather indirect results may be noted:
l. The prices Of all articles dependent
mainly on a distant market will he en-
/ HANGED to the consumer and reduced to
| the producer. The grower Of agricultu-
rel staples st the west and the manufac-
! tUre of heavy wares at the east will both
suffer some reduction of profits, while
/ the prices TO consumers will at the same
/ time be somewhat enhanced.
! 2. AS 8 consequence, unless there
should be an unusual foreign demand
arising within a twelve month. the infu-
ence OF the act will be especially detri-
mental to the western grower of agricul
tural staples.
| 3. The eastern manufacturer of heavy
wares who is dependent mainly upon the
west and south Tor his market, will per-
/ haps be the greatest immediate sufferer.
Wherever there is local competition he will
/ find himself excluded, and many who have
| been running close to the wind in hope of
better times will be forced to succumb.
I. This sudden snd radical change in
| the conditions affecting business will
crush out many weak and struggling es-
adjustments in all branches of trade.
On the other hand, it will not seIi-
ousiV affect such great combinations as
the Anthracite Coal syndicate, the Stan
dard Oh Company, and other similar
! pools" which, in effect,
CONTROL THE SUPPLY
of a specific product. L will perhaps re-
! duCe somewhat the consumption of an
| thraCIte in the west, though that is not
certain, since 1t may be doubted if the
law will be construed so as to put hard
and soft coal on a par as to rate, and if it
is not, there is no reason why the anthra-
cite rate from the east should not con-
tinue as favorable as at the present time.
The control of the bulk of the products
in which they deal, will still enable such
combinations TO suppress injurious COM
petition.
For time, therefore, the influence of
the act will be to produce still further
concentration in business by reducing the
number of competitors in the various
lines of trade and manufacture. Should
the act continue in force these influences
will De largely CounterbalanCed and, in
! time, no doubt, more than overcome, by
others of a very different character.
Among these resultant effects may be es-
pecially noted the following:
l. The encouragement Of local manu-
featuring establishments. This will
greatly stimulate southern and western
manufactures, and in corresponding de-
gree depress eastern mechanical indus
tries and induce q consequent western
movement Of population. While specific
western interests will at first suffer, the
west, as q whole, will no doubt gain
essentially by the diversihCatiOn Of her
industries. Alphabetically, the east will
gain some advantage by reduction OF
western competition, but it will by no
means COunteTbalanCe it's loss in manu-
features.
,. The double and sometimes treble
transportation Of product and material
over the same route will be rapidly re
duced. 1t is now the habit to send the
raw material to New York or some other
commercial center, for distribution to the
manufacturers, and then to send the
manufactured product back there for dis
tributiOn to the trade. This course of
trade was largely the result of prefer
entail rates, and their removal will naIu-
rally produce a contrary effect. Equable
rates are the jobbeTs' worst enemy. The
act will undoubtedly bring the manufaC-
tureT and consumer nearer together.
3. In Ike manner, the tendency Of
manufacturers to the great cities will be
checked. The small town is
THE NATURAL HOME
Of the manufacturer. Rents are lower,
labor cheaper and more cOnfented and
risks less than il 8 city. Preferential
rates have driven the manufacturer to
the city and forced the IabOrer into
the tenement house. Their abolition will
remove this tendency and serve TO dis
tribute rather than COndenSe cur indus
tries and population.
+. 1t Will tend also, in another way, 20
build up the smsll towns rather than the
great cities. Heretofore the railroad has
been, in a sense, compelled 10 make itself
the enemy of the small towns along It's
route and the ally Of the great city
10 which it leads, by the riVsIry Ct trunk
lines in regard to through freight. This
rivalry being rendered practically i'm
possible by the act, the road that is
wisely managed will turn It's attention
at once to fostering manufactures along
its line by emphasizing the difference
in rate in favor OF the interior or even
suburban manufacturer. If the law is
continued in effect it will be found that
the power to distinguish in favor of the
short haul is far more potent weapon in
the hands of the injurious railroad man
ager than the reduction in favor of the
long one. 1t does not need any pro-
fundity to demonstrate that the pros
perity of a railroad thus protected de-
ponds mainly en- the development Of
traffic supply along It's own lines. The act
viii therefore be very decidedly to the
advantage of the smaller towns and the
relief of the oveTcrOwded cities.
Before these Interior influences have
been fully developed, however, We shall
have first to meet the force of the imme-
date results of the law upon the public
sentiment and general business interests.
These may be summarized as follows
promising always that the normal opera
ton of the act is not interfered with by
war or other exceptional influences:
l. a decided reduction in the general
manufacturing output, aud a consequent
reduction in wages except to those en-
gagged in railroad employment, where
there will be slight but general advance.
u